Mark Thomas Johnson, a longtime employee with the Montana Department of Corrections, died Oct. 25 after a brief illness. He was 62.
Mark was born June 4, 1956, in New Underwood, S.D., to Walter and Myrtle Johnson. The fifth-oldest of eight children, he grew up and attended school in the rural area around New Underwood and in Rapid City. The family moved to Montana in 1963, settling in Missoula.
Mark graduated from Hellgate High School in 1974 and joined the U.S. Army that same year, specializing in communications. He completed his service in 1978, but returned for another four-year enlistment in 1985.
Mark married Frances McTarseny on June 29, 1985, in Victor, MT. He considered his 20-year marriage to be the achievement of his life for which he was most proud. He once said he wanted to be remembered most of all as someone who tried to be best husband and father that he could be.
Upon his discharge from the military in 1989, Mark enrolled in DeVry University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems in 1992. He launched his career in computer technology shortly after graduation when he joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Kansas City, Mo., as a computer programmer. In 1995, he went to work as a programmer for the communications company MCI in Colorado Springs, CO. The following year, he was hired as a programmer and system support specialist by Managed Business Solutions in Fort Collins, CO., a company specializing in information technologyconsulting, program and project management, software design and development, data conversion and application support.
Mark decided to return to Montana in 1997 and telecommuted for MBS for five years before moving to Helena and joining the state Corrections Department’s IT staff in 2003.
During his 15 years with the state’s second-largest agency, he was a statistician and then lead statistician before being promoted to chief of the Statistics and Data Quality Bureau. Mark’s tenure with the department coincided with significant progress in development of an updated computer system that would be capable of tracking the more than 15,000 offenders under the agency’s supervision. He was instrumental in devising programs capable of creating myriad statistical reports necessary for creating and analyzing programs and services vital to helping in the successful rehabilitation of offenders and, ultimately, safer communities in Montana.
Mark was widely respected for the accuracy of his statistical and analytical work, and developed a reputation among his colleagues as someone willing to take on any task in a collaborative, prompt and efficient manner. He became the go-to numbers guy for anyone seeking information about offenders and correctional services in Montana.
He said he always tried to do the best possible work in whatever job he held and considered his 13 years at the Corrections Department to be “the best job I had in my entire life.” But despite his commitment and success in his career, Mark always considered his successful, loving relationship with Frances to be the most important part of his life. In the end, he once said, life is about “family, friends and maintaining lasting relationships.”
Away from work, Mark enjoyed working with wood and used his carpentry skills to remodel major portions of his house. He was an avid fan of sports, particularly basketball and auto racing, and enjoyed fishing and exploring his family’s genealogy.
His brother, Walter, remembers Mark as someone who “always had a helping hand for everybody” and “excelled at everything he did.” He had a reputation among his family of looking for solutions for any problems his siblings had.
When Fran died in 2011, Mark was sure he had known the one great love of his life and would never find love again. But he was wrong, and a few years after Fran’s passing, he met Missy. That began a special relationship for the past several years in which they became each other’s companions, confidants and best friends while sharing their lives to the fullest measure. Mark learned that he could have a second great love in his life, and that love was Missy.
Mark’s final two wishes were to die in his home, where he lost Fran, and that Missy be at his side in his final moment. Both his wishes came true.
Mark was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Linda; wife Frances; and stepson Shane McTarseny. He is survived by Missy; brothers Claus, Florida; Walter, Stevensville; Charles, Victor; Wayne, Oklahoma; and Brian, Missoula; and a sister, Janice, Stevensville; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service for his friends to share memories of Mark and his life will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1610 E. 6th Ave., in the cultural hall at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1.
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